Best Defense: Gun? Knife?… Tea?

The Associated Press has a story of a unique defense against an assailant… a cup of tea. No word on whether the tea was oolong or green. I wonder if sake would have worked as well.
A man who appeared to be a laborer in his 60s allegedly pulled a knife and demanded money from a 30-year-old housewife as she was walking in a hallway at a downtown Tokyo apartment building Monday morning. The woman told her assailant that she had no money but he followed her and forced his way into her apartment, police said.
But rather than screaming, the woman served the man a cup of tea in hopes of calming him down.
The man put his knife away and began telling the woman about his financial hardship and asked her to lend him 10,000 yen ($94), police said.
Police said the woman put a 10,000 yen ($94) bill and a wallet containing about 30,000 yen ($280) on the table. When the man was looking the other way, she grabbed her daughter and ran out the door to call police from a nearby public phone.
Best defense is not to fall into the role of victim. Muggers “sometimes” expect it, and give you hints to prompt that kind of response, before they fully commit or carry through an attack. It’s not always the case, but more likely when you have an assailant that has to make the mental switch from being a normal stranger to a mugger without any form of incitement.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:09 pmtell that to the 20-30 odd “stabbing victims” over recent months in the UK riki – a sharp blade seems to the be the weapon of choice for disenchanted “grab-what-I-want” Asian Youth.
remora
July 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pmWhat i wrote above doesn’t apply to every kind of attack.
He was fully committed the moment he ran the first person over. The knife spree came latter.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm